I n May of this year, Aladdin Systems announced a proposed merger with makers of virtual chat worlds, Activeworlds, Inc. At the time, there was wailing and a gnashing of teeth from the Mac community, including TMO, concerning the Windows-only nature of Activeworlds, and what that might mean to Aladdinis excellent Mac products. Though privately told by Aladdin shortly after we mentioned the announcement that such fears were unfounded, any such lingering fears concerning Activeworlds can be put to rest. The two companies have scrapped plans for their merger. From a short press release:
Aladdin Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Aladdin Systems Holdings, Inc., today announced it is terminating its letter of intent to merge with Activeworlds, inc.. The companies had on May 6, 2002, announced the execution of the non-binding letter of intent. Both companies reached a mutual decision to terminate the letter of intent.
Aladdin also announced it is continuing its merger discussions with Erevu, Inc., as announced June 27, 2002.
Aladdin announced it would be acquiring Erevu, Inc., a company founded in 2001 to develop help-desk solutions. Kwok Li, the chairman of Erevuis board, is set to become Aladdinis chairman under terms of the as-yet-unclosed deal. From the press release announcing this acquisition:
Erevu, based in Silver Spring, Md, revolutionizes todayis labor/cost-centric IT help-desk service model through automation of the portable computing environment. Erevu is dedicated to create a best-in-class enabler for corporate IT departments by creating a virtual partnership with end users and their customers to improve efficiency and implementation.
You can find more information on Erevu at the companyis site. You can find more information on Aladdin Systems at its Web site.